(first posted 7/6/2012) Time for something a little different. As diverse as the automotive makeup of Eugene is, there is very little chance of Paul running across one of these. Courtesy of frequent reader and Cohort contributorBryce, let’s take a look at the 1965-66 HD from Holden, GM’s southernmost division.

As those of us in the States know, 1965 was a big year for General Motors. All of their full size lines were drastically – and beautifully – restyled, just the way Bill Mitchell wanted them. Other lines such as the A-bodies and Riviera received attractive facelifts. I will go so far as to say 1965 was GM’s peak. Everything was clicking. For Holden, Australia’s car, the EH Holden (shown above in wagon form) was replaced with the reskinned HD.

The HD sedan and wagon became available in February of 1965, with the ute and panel wagon coming along later in July. HDs were available in three different trim levels: Standard, mid-line Special and the luxurious Premier, the top of the line.

All were available as a sedan or station wagon. Premiers added a comfier interior, extra bright trim inside and out, and other niceties.

I am unsure what the trim levels were for the ute and van – were they part of a separate commercial line? Perhaps one of our readers from Australia or New Zealand can fill us in.

All HDs came with an inline six. Standard power was a 149 CID version with 100 hp. The Premier received a standard 179 CID version with an extra 15 horses; this was optional on other models. The top power option was the “X2” version of the 179, with 140 horsepower. This was achieved through dual carbs and other assorted engine upgrades. This could be installed in any HD.

Standard transmission was a three speed manual. A two speed Powerglide was new, replacing the three speed Hydramatic that had been optional on the EH. Power disc brakes were also newly available.

Just like the US 1965 GM cars, the HD received all-new sheetmetal. Lines were modern and smoother than the outgoing EH, with body sides receiving much more tumblehome. HDs were wider and longer than the EH, but rode the same 106″ wheelbase as before.

The peaked front fenders were new, but their source may not be obvious to those unfamiliar with contemporary US models.

When I ran across that front view of today’s featured car, my first thought was “1962 Oldsmobile.” The fender blades continuing into the U-shaped bumper are very similar, if not identical. The parking lamps are in the same place too.

The resemblance ends after the front end, however. Lines are pretty modern for the mid ’60s; there’s lots of glass area and the dimensions appear to be quite tidy. This Special looks pretty sharp in its black and white paint, too. I don’t think those wheels are original, but they don’t detract from this little hauler’s lines.

HDs were only made in 1965 and 1966. Despite the short production run, over 178,000 came off the production line. That wasn’t as good as the earlier EH, which saw over 250,000 built. However, since the HD was on the market for little more than a year (compared to three years for the EH), this may account for the difference in numbers.

The Holden HR replaced it in April of 1966, though it was not nearly as drastic a change as when the EH gave way to the HD. It was essentially a facelifted HD, with a new grille, revised roofline and other trim changes.

It no longer looked like a 1962 Oldsmobile, though it now had a passing resemblance to the 1966 Plymouth Belvedere from the front. How did that happen?

Now you know a little more about GM’s Australian division, at least in the middle ’60s. Thanks Bryce, for showing us cars we may otherwise never see.

40 Comments

My father got one of these new as a company car when I was 10. It was his first station wagon and my brother and I loved it. I still have happy memories of going to the drive-in and sitting in the back luggage compartment falling asleep during Dr Zhivago! It was a mid level special with the optional 179 engine and 3 speed manual transmission. It was pretty basic inside by today’s standards – rubber floor mats, no heater, armrests only on the front doors, non-power drum brakes etc. Apparently it was nowhere near as popular as the preceding EH model because of its somewhat confronting styling – especially the protruding front fender blades which were quickly dubbed kidney scoops because of what they might do if they ever hit a pedestrian. They were removed with the HR facelift which sold a lot better. The X2 engine option was very rare. It was difficult to keep the twin carbies in tune, so that was also scrapped with the HR, replaced with a Stromberg 2 barrel unit. My step-father also had this model but in a panel van. This was even more basic – utes and panel vans were only available in standard trim – plainer vinyl upholstery, no armrests or cigarette lighter, and only a drivers side sun visor. It also had the base 149 engine. He had it for years and I can’t remember it ever giving any trouble.

The HD was known as the “Hardly Driveable”, it sold OK but the styling was unpopular. The HR, known as “Hastily (or Heavily) Revised” was changed to tone down the styling excesses of the HD. The HR also saw the introduction of bigger engines, the 149 became the 161 and the 179 became the 186. More importantly the front suspension was changed to a ball joint design and this is a very popular retro fit to earlier holdens, such as the EJ, EH and HD.

Hi, I have just come across your bit about the HD and was intrigued to see your bit about it being “Hardly Driveable”, which is the main reason that saw ours off. There is a bit about the HD and all my other vehicles in my book THINGS ON WHEELS AND OTHER GEAR that is on my web site robbertee-bobs-books.

The HR looks like a compact variant of GM’s 1964-65 US mid-sized cars. We got the agricultural Chevy II, which didn’t switch over to curved side glass until 1968. GM never particularly liked small cars in the US.

Your GM wanted to upsell the customer into a bigger and more profitable car. In the Australian market, the Holden was a “full-size” car. Except for out-and-out luxury vehicles – like Impalas, which not every dealer would stock.

Australia was and largely still is a very conservative market – there were very few 2-door models sold other than in small cars, and in 1965 it was still common for men to wear hats.

The amount the fender peaks protrude beyond the grille & main section of bumper appears to be far more pronounced than the 62 Olds, perhaps more like a 64? They wouldn’t be the same size as those on a 1970 Torino, but getting there – and having appeared from nowhere (compare to the EH above) you can see why they were a shock.

The side view looks a fair amount like a US Valiant. And the rear end on that wagon in the last picture evokes a bit of the ’69 Chrysler fuselage cars.

So why are those sixes so severely angled in this pictures. I know engines have a bit of tilt to them, but these seem extreme. The manifold is even designed to compensate for the tilt; never seen that before!

Its a Holden thing Paul they all do that and the inlet manifolds transfer across the models ok The HR was a Chevy in South Africa with a Chev 6 installed I know they reccessed the firewall to suit but not sure how the mounting angle was addressed

I’m assuming that this model was essentially a Vauxhall Victor (a smaller car than the illustrations suggest (!), but it’s very clear in the factory picture). It seems the details were more ‘Americanized’, inside and out, than the UK version.

Given the climate and roads of Australia however, you wonder why GM used their British products instead of American as the base for Holden models. Was it cultural, or economic (smaller, cheaper cars), or were currency issues involved?

The bumper treatments were different, but the contemporary Victor and the Opel Rekord both had similar peaked front fenders. The 106″ wheelbase looks stretched to about 120″ in the illustration of the turquoise wagon!

My guess is the “Commonwealth” issue – why some Holden platforms had some Vauxhall in them . . . . I’m just speculating. I know the whole Commonwealth tariff issue was a key in CKD’s of GM cars coming from Canada . . . and . . . the higher fuel costs and less discretionary spendable income than Americans had back then . . . .

The Victor has a 100″ wheelbase and 65″ width, the Holden has 106″ wheelbase and 70″ width – I think the similarity is cosmetic only. The Holden was an evolution of earlier models, and completely locally developed. The original Holden prototypes were built in the US.

I too thought this Holden (the wagon especially) had a a lot of ’64-’64 GM North American “A” body similarities. The HD wagon from the front and sides look like a non-Vista Cruiser Olds or Buick “A”. In retrospect, Buick Division should’ve sold these instead of Opels . . . . similarities between an American car but scaled down would not have been to “foreign” for American/Canadian tastes back in the ’60s. On the other hand, maybe Holden sales would’ve robbed Chevy II/Nova/Acadian sales back in the day. I know, hindsight, and like JP said, I’m not an Australian/Kiwi living in Oz/NZ in 1965 – I’m looking at it from a native Californian’s perspective and that I grew up with Malibus/Tempest-LeMans/Cutlasses and Skylarks. I like these Holdens!

The HD was never a popular model in NZ as it gained a reputation for rust early on as did all Holdens sold here our humid climate and close proximity to the coastal salt air cospire against poorly painted sheet metal but the HD designed in the US was without proper panel venting and drainage. The HR addressed all the faults along with ball joint front and disc brakes that only briefly appeared on the HD late in its life. The EH of 63/64 was the last totally Australian designed Holden from the HD onwards Holdens aped earlier Opels including the famous HK Monaro which is nothing but a widened 63 Opel Commodore. Model designations are tricky the standard came with 149 and drums and tree shift the special usually had 179 manual 3 speed or power slide and of course the premier came with all the fruit and as Tom mentioned X2 could be optioned but mainly only on the Premier utes and panel vans completed the range. One of the biggest features at the time was the use of curved side glass which gave the HD more shoulder room over the EH whose floorpan it shared this is what produced the tumblehome effect. This car was not like the Vauxhall Victor which Holdens also produced it was more in the Velox Cresta mould though without the performance and comfort. Holden stopped building Vauxhalls at the 63 PB model to reduce the in house competition. New Zealand continued Vauxhall assembly and Vauxhalls were available alongside Holdens thru untill 1971. In building the premier Holden trimmed the car to compete with the US imports and beat them all on price and content but it worked people started buying the local luxury model and Australian & NZ assembly of Chevs declined.

I love these articles on down-under cars. Like a lot of Americans, I got interested in them after seeing the Mad Max movies. Of course, this Holden station wagon is hardly a classic like the FEMI-equipped ZXGLQ-FU Fairlane, but it is still an interesting piece of automotive history.

Mum’s cousin worked in the parts department for Ebbett Holden (a long-standing GM dealer in NZ) throughout the 70s/80s/90s. When we got together for summer holidays at the beach (Waihi Beach for our NZ readers), her cousin and his wife&kids always had a Holden of some description – it was an HD wagon for a few years through the late 70s/early 80s. I distinctly remember all us kids riding to the other end of the beach in the very back of the HD with the tailgate window wound down – the wind-down window intrigued me as the one in back of my parents’ Mk3 Cortina wagon didn’t wind down.

Oddly though, I also clearly remember getting seriously bad vibes from the HD – I’ve no idea why! It and Mk3 Ford Zephyr sedans creeped me out and scared me silly. Mind you I was somewhere between 5 and 8 years old at the time, so that probably explains part of it!

Mum’s cousin’s father-in-law also worked for Ebbett Holden, and also drove an HD, a blue sedan. It was probably a Standard as there wasn’t a heater. Once he upgraded to a VC Holden Commodore in the early 90s, the HD was passed onto his grandsons, who eventually onsold it. I still see it occasionally, although it was multi-coloured with a big exhaust last time I saw it.

Even though I favour Fords, I must admit an HD/HR Premier in black is a pretty smart-looking car! The feature car Bryce has photographed was for sale on trademe last year, I remember being moderately tempted by it. The vendor mentioned the story behind the mag wheels it’s sporting, but I don’t recall the details. I believe they were exceptionally rare period accessories though.

The EH model wasn’t on sale for 3 years, just 18 months from Aug 63 to Feb 65, whereas the HD was built for 14 months up to Apr 66. The rate of sales of Holdens had been consistently growing from their introduction in 1948, with the EH selling 3 times as many per month than the FJ from 10 years earlier, and 50% more than the FC of 5 years earlier.

Therefore it is very telling that the HD broke this trend when it dropped by approximately 12% from EH to HD. The production rate then picked up 50% with the HR! This was the highest rate for any Holden model at nearly 20,000 vehicles per month. Holden had roughly 40% of the market at this time, selling more than 3 times the number of Falcons.

The body on the HD was five inches wider than the EH but the track stayed the same giving the unfortunate HD a look that suggested it would fall over in a strong wind.
Despite massive profits from the Holden operation the bean counters at GM refused to cough up the cash to reengineer the chassis to suit the extra width.
Coupled with the “kidney killers” on the front guards, which look more dramatic in the flesh, the unpopular HD was no match for the much loved EH and it was quickly replaced by the HR.
The popular phrase of the time best sums it up.

The HD/HR were really stopgap models while the 63 Opel Commodore was being widened into the HK/T/G series. The EH was a much more popular model despite only being a facelift of the EJ it introduced a modern engine to the Holden lineup finally allowing Holdens to perform as well as the opposition and nearly as well as their Vauxhall stable mate.

I had a HD automatic from 73 to 78 lived in Melbourne went to Perth in it travelled around western Australia and had not a bit of trouble had to sell when I came back to uk,best car iv’e ever had.HD happy days

I’ve heard of the Holden HD. I’m curious, was it really as bad a vehicle as sales made it out to be? Usually if something doesn’t sell as well as expected, there’s a reason behind it. Either poor quality, too radical for people’s tastes. Not being from Australia, I don’t know the first thing about what Aussies want.

Soon nobody will be building cars in Australia Ford is folding their tent followed closely by GM and Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan have already left, Without government subsidy and purchase guarentees its just not viable the customer base has eroded away for the cars other types now preferred.

That’s correct Max, The HD Holden STILL holds that record,”The HD Holden, in May 1965 sold 19,000 cars in 31 days a record that still stands today”, Holden also sold 178,927 HD’s in just 14 months of production, far from a failure. The “horribly designed” rubbish came from one article written by a motoring journalist and has grown into an urban myth…

Backronyms mentioned such as ‘Horrible Disaster’, ‘Hastily Designed’ et al. were coined retrospectively as the HD outstripped all previous sales figures to date. In fact in May ’65 GMH recorded Holden’s best month to date with in excess of 19,000 sales in 31 days (a record still unbeaten by any car in Oz). It also sold over 88,000 units in the first 6 months eclipsing all models before including the EH (79,206). In 14 months Holden sold almost 180,000 HDs, an Australian record that will never be beaten. So it seems it was not a disappointment to the motoring public at all!
It wasn’t until wannabe safety crusader Ralph Nader released a book titled ‘Safe at any Speed’ in the US in ’65 questioning the safety of GM products, chiefly the Corvair. Once Australian journalists, such as Craig McGregor, attempting to create a name for themselves began to criticise the current Australian GM model, which happened to be the HD, its reputation was unjustly tarnished. So it was really a case of wrong place, wrong time.